“The law states that Secretary Haaland cannot do this. Since it boxes out recreational shooters, she did it anyway.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, strongly opposes Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s proposed plan for the Department of the Interior to shutter access to recreational shooting on 1.3 million acres of the Bears Ears National Monument, in Utah. Today’s announcement will needlessly deny recreational target shooters’ access to the monument for no legally justifiable purpose and will violate federal law.
“Secretary Haaland’s proposed plan to close access to 1.3 million acres for recreational shooting is a violation of federal law,” said Joe Bartozzi, NSSF President and Chief Executive Officer. “Public lands must be made available for all the public to use. Federal law explicitly states that when closures of public lands are necessary, they must be limited in area and duration to achieve a specific stated objective. Secretary Haaland has articulated none of the required criteria, as required by law. The Secretary should rescind or drastically modify this misguided policy and apply the law as intended: to benefit the public.”
The John D. Dingell, Jr., Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, which was signed into law in 2019, sets the criteria upon which the Secretary of the Department of the Interior may close public access to public lands. The law limits the area and duration for when public access to federal lands may be closed. Closures may only occur when a clear and quantifiable objective is identified. Secretary Haaland’s announcement to close 1.3 million acres to Bears Ears National Monument fails to meet these requirements.
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